Who is My Neighbor?

April 14

Deuteronomy 26-27

Psalm 45:6-12

Proverbs 11:7-8

Luke 10:25-42

Who is My Neighbor?

“But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”  Luke 10:29 LSB

A scholar of the law came to Jesus and tried to put Him to the test.  He asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.  As usual, Jesus knew that the man was trying to trap Him into saying something that went against the laws as the Pharisees and Sadducees had interpreted them so He turned the question on him and asked him what the law said.  The man said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus responded to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”  Basically, “Yeah, that’s right, now go do that!”  But then the man went further and asked, “And who is my neighbor?”  That is a very good question.  The last couple of days we have looked at the Old Testament law God gave the Jews on how to treat other people.  The Pharisees and Sadducees believed that Jesus was trying to get rid of the old law and give the people new laws to follow.  Jesus repeatedly tried to explain to them that He did not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it.  He was trying to clarify the old laws and help them understand why God gave them specific instructions and how He wanted them to be carrying out the laws He gave them. 

            In answer to the man’s question, Jesus told him the parable of the good Samaritan.  He was trying to make the point that we should treat everyone well.  We should be concerned about the needs of everyone.  My neighbor is not the person who lives next door to me or in my home.  My neighbor is everyone I meet each day.  This seems overwhelming but what Jesus is trying to teach is that we should love others, all others.  We should treat everyone with dignity and respect regardless of their nationality, gender, color, age, social status or any other attribute that can be used to divide and discriminate.  If everyone treated each other the way they should there would be no wars, no poverty, no theft, no murder, etc.  This will happen in the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus is ruling and reigning on His throne in Jerusalem.  Until then, His followers are to do our best to love and serve others.  Given our current political climate, I have to interject that this is a personal instruction.  God gives very clear instructions to the nation of Israel regarding borders.  The idea of open borders and allowing anyone to come into a country without following correct procedures is not Biblical.  God is the one who set up the idea of countries having specific borders.  God puts leaders in positions of authority to maintain and regulate this process.  God is a God of order and rules.  Nothing about the chaos that has led to the border crisis is pleasing to God.  Jesus’ instruction here is a personal admonition that we are to treat everyone with dignity and respect, but we do not disregard the safety and well-being of our own citizens to bring this about.  It doesn’t have to be an either/or situation.  We can treat others with love and respect and still expect that they follow the laws and procedures to be in our country.